Google Photos has been offering unlimited free storage for videos and photos since 2015 when it updated its gallery app with a new look and design. The free storage works for both iOS and Android users, however, Google compresses the uploaded content in order to save space. Now, starting today, some video formats that are unsupported will take up storage space the limited storage space quota allotted to each user. The new change came to be known when a side note appeared on the Google support site declaring the same.

The side note says, “[Unsupported] Videos uploaded after December 6, 2018 take up storage space.” It seems some users were using the unlimited storage to their advantage by disguising unsupported movie formats and uploading them to avail free storage. The side note’s appearance on the support page means the change is already live currently. That said, Google supports a large number of formats such as below:
mpg, .mod, .mmv, .tod, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .divx, .mov, .m4v, .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m2t, .m2ts, .mts, and .mkv files.

Do note that this change will have a minimal effect on smartphone users who upload photos or even videos through their devices. However, large files in unsupported formats will take up space. The Photos app has recently undergone a drastic redesign with Google imparting a new Material Theme design to the app recently.